7 TIPS FOR CHEAP DATING

Too much familiarity with each other may lead to a not so exciting relationships. Unless, of course, if you want to keep the status quo, you may want to keep your relationship on fire and on point. Relationships must not only be made to engage in an all too familiar and similar routine. Reinvent and explore and make time to do things outside the comfort zone.

Are you ready? Here are 7 Tips for CHEAP DATING.

1. DATE IN PUBLIC PARKS. Actually, it is a no-brainer. Instead of investing thick layers of cash in airplane tickets and hotels, why not date in public parks or in open green spaces or along the beaches. Travelling to places will take time and money, you do travelling of course but an alternative is to date in parks or in open green space. The best part of it, it's free. 

You may also want to enrich your knowledge in history by visiting museums. It may sound like a 4th grader thing but the fact is, you can be more appreciative of history once again. At least, you try to relive the past. Also, beaches can be a great place to do dating.

2. COOK AND DINE. Instead of spending some time and money in some fancy restaurant, why not cook? You'll be thinking that it is basic and elementary. Ooooppps!... you might have missed the point. Like travelling, plan the dish you would want to cook for your partner and friends. Then, go together in groceries and let the alleys of grocery items be your dating ground. Its fun arguing about the best ingredient in your dish or trolling on the better tomato sauce, pasta or bread. It a sure way to reinvent your habit of dating and eating in restaurants.

After buying some food stuffs, prepare the dish together while enjoying some sparkling wine or even without it. You may or may not prepare your table to mimic that of your favorite restaurant. You may decorate it with flowers or candles. You may dim the lights and play sweet music. Dining is best enjoyed with friends around. Do it more often, it can be economical and healthy.

3. PLANT TREES OF LOVE.  Whether its a fruit, vegetable, flower, or a tree, attempt some gardening stuff together. Rather than etching your names on the bark of a helpless tree, why not grow a tree and name it? Simple as it is, you can also help the environment and claim yourself to be an environmental warrior.

Over the years, the trees you've planted will grow and it will be fun to reminisce the day you've planted that tree together. Don't forget to etch your names.

4. GAZE THE STARS. Whether you're anticipating the dawn or dusk, or you just want to see some stars and comets, the romanticism of gazing the sky will remain an enigma to a loving heart. No one can ever explain that gleeful experience lying beneath the naked sky while having a sweet talk with your partner. 

The best part of this is that you can simply do it in your backyard, on your pick-up truck, during your camping or in the parking lot. The universe has kept scientist at bay as to its origin just like your love - No one knows how it started and where it came from. You will be amazed that time will go unnoticed if you gaze over the stars. 

5. COFFEE AT THE HOUSE. Who can resist a  good conversation over a hot coffee? And, it is most coveted during rainy days. A piece of cookie or pastry, sipping a piping hot coffee on rainy days will keep your body warm and your romantic relationship heated. But, instead of buying coffee in Starbucks, try to grind and ground local coffee beans and have an authentic taste of locally grown coffee. But, if you're not that caffeine type person, a hot chocolate will do.

6. DO NETFLIX. Watching movies together is part of every relationship goals either by want or need. Netflix offers numerous movies, series or tv drama, all you want at any time. You will not queue, you will not wait, you have no seatmate other than your partner. You can hug, cuddle and kiss your partner in the absence of prying eyes. And, you can start, pause or re-start the whole movie at your whimsical desire.

7.  EXERCISE TOGETHER. Take your shoes on and run. Grab your bike and hit the trail. Dress your Dry fit and enter the gym. Exercising together improves your health and spends only energy except of course after the gym when you try to eat some burgers and fries and spend some money. It will help build your physique as well as your relationship.

At least, do it twice a week, after work. 

On a final note, dating should not be at expensive cost. Dating should not be a mere routine activity. Dating can be cheap but meaningful. Have some fun together and do cheap dating now.

HOW TO DEAL WITH BREAK-UPS

When relationships end, a new beginning will unfold, but, it is not always as easy. Before a new horizon shines, one will have to deal with a very cold, stark and dark past. Memories of your once sweet story will toxify your heart, mind and soul until you get fed and realize that your life is not all about loving someone you now call an "ex".

Let us bring back your fond memories. Maybe, you were childhood friends, college buddies, workmates or tinder dates, regardless, however, your love story started with unsuspecting "hi's" and "hello's". Maybe, it took years, months or weeks, not to mention days, to develop your feeling for each other and that sense of feeling is not at all to be concluded as only fleeting. Maybe, you have sipped through hot and cold coffees, together you've exchanged funny childhood experiences, shared jokes of all sorts, and told every piece of promise that a life without her is but empty. Maybe, you have travelled together in places as friends or as would-be lovers.   

Soon enough, both of you discovered that amorous tingling sensation deep inside your hearts and the only way to express it out is to confess the greatest feeling one can ever imagine and that is by saying "you are falling". "Falling" big word. The last time I adore the word was with the song "Total eclipse of my heart" by Bonnie Tyler. "Once upon a time I was falling in love but I now I'm only falling apart"- such a powerful lyrics for a broken heart.

Now, you were confused of your feeling. Pretending to ask questions and pretending to answer it. You quipped, felt the same way and loved in exchange of love. You glowed together, had great time and great sex. You ventured as lovers to strange places and showed affection to each other in the eyes of strangers. You confess your love and admit it. You vow for an unconditional love and certainly, the reply was love without condition.

The excitement rushed as you first hold her hands, closed your eyes, and tendered your lips towards her. Sweetest, you describe. Unending as you wish. Then, in many occasions, the familiar becomes unfamiliar. The obvious now became obscure. You fight and mend, you cry and laugh, you were broke and you were fixed.

Then, one day, you woke with tears in your eyes. To your confusion, you tried to recall what happened and when your sober self recalled, the night ended in lost. Either you broke-up with her or she does, but, just the same, that thin line of hopeless love snaps. What was once a hopeful dream of marriage and children crumbled. None of you was left behind as both you took opposing paths.

Now, you're broken. In tears, I assume. In despair, I suspect. That once feeling you adore has now morphed into an ill-feeling, a structured hate as both of you betrayed the promises of your love. So, how? How do you expect yourself to heal in what seems to be an immortal wound? How can you breathe for life, if your heart was taken away? How will you ever search for answers, when you do not know the questions?

The immediate relief, perhaps, may not be a glass of wine or a bottle of beer because you drown yourself, bathe yourself, and intoxicate yourself with alcohol. What cure can it bring if it soothes only a temporary ease of a heavy heart. You do things according to textbooks. You travel, you drink, perhaps, meet new dates, you do this and that to bury that undeniable sickness within you. You swear, curse, shout, you say things if only to throw up the feelings you had. 

You want to escape, maybe, even think of dying. Death is no love and when you can love again, death is not an option. By the time you've done crying and become sober, realize that what left you is the physical being of you "ex". Your ability to love did not leave you as it will remain and will ever be.

Love, my dear, did not leave you. Love remains the same and the probability of loving again is undoubtedly certain. You do not stage a wake of your dead feelings. It's done and gone. Do not languish in sadness and sorrow. Do not regret.

Do not feel defeated, but if you feel it then let it be. But, remind yourself that you are to win love. Your break-up is just another story to tell, another lesson to learn, another opportunity to find the purest love. 

Do not treat your break-up as the darkest, morbid chapter of your life. Life is supposed to be lived in happiness. Be glad that you left a life where there can only be an unhappy love. Like a tree chopped off of its stem, be strong to fight back and love again. 

7 TIPS IN ANSWERING BAR QUESTIONS

The Philippine Bar examination is considered as one of the most challenging licensure examinations in the Philippines. Its mortally rate is much higher compared to other government regulated examination. It is the Supreme Court and not the Philippine Regulation Commission that administers the examination, as well as the conferment of the license to practice law. From the Halls of the Manuel L. Quezon University to the University of Sto. Tomas, it has make and break hearts, dreams and aspirations.

Many, perhaps, have attempted to persuade you on how to answer bar questions and this is no exception. However, rather than dwelling on the substance and content of the answer, this focuses on simple tips you might have overlooked and will be looking during the course of your road-to-being-a-lawyer.

8 TIPS IN ANSWERING BAR QUESTIONS

1. Always treat your examination in law school as the actual bar exam. There is nothing that can be achieved without preparation. Preparation, as has been said, starts in the first day of law school. Certainly, depending on the law school, it administers two or four examinations every semester. Always treat that examination as if you are taking the bar examination. No excuses.

If during your law school days, you wear a jacket while answering, you were jacket in Sto. Tomas. If during your law school days, you write with a cheap gel pen, use that cheap gel pen. If during your law school days, you do not eat while taking the examinations, then do not eat while taking the bar examinations.

2. Avoid extremely numerous erasures. Your excitement might cause you to write swiftly your answers in your notebook but the hitch is that your organized thoughts might not reflect that is what is written on your notebook. Organize your thoughts and write it without a rush although you must be conscious of the time. This skill needs practice. Failure to do this will eventually lead you to so much erasures as there are skip words you will insert or delete repeated words or redundancy. 

It is not pleasant if, at first glance, there are so many erasures on your notebook. It is a cause of concern. So, even before you mock-bar have yourself your our mock-bar in the confines of your room. Study the choice of words and the structure of your answer. Refine if needed.

3. Observe Margin and Indention. Nothing beats a well-presented answer to the eyes of the examiner. You market yourself through the neatness of your work. While others say that a neat work will expose grammar and spelling issues, then muster your grammar and spelling. 

Just imagine a work without a margin and indention. It will not only look terrible but also disappointing, as it shows unprofessionalism and mediocrity of work.

4. Review your entire work. Make it a habit to review your work before you submit the same. While there may be unavoidable corrections at least show to the examiner that you corrected it. It leaves an impression that you are diligent in your work and that you have one of the fundamental traits of a lawyer -finding fault to where there is none (just kidding). Seriously, reviewing the entire work of yours, at this early stage, will have good repercussions as it will become mechanical in the process.

5. Have enough rest. Yes! Rest is a huge contributor in your passing percentage. An overworked candidate of the bar will not likely give the best shots of his as fatigue will set in the course of the examination. When that happens, you tend to finish your work in haste, your comprehension will falter, your appreciation of facts will fail, and remembering the law will be a struggle. A good rest is enough to boost your energy in staging an eight hour battle for four Sundays.

Relax if need be. Pressure and so much overthinking will not help. You will always have that weird feeling that every topic in your law book will be asked. But the truth is that of the thousands of principles in Civil Law only 30 basic principles will come out. It is enough to master the basic, after all, the Supreme Court needs only passers with that of an entry-level lawyer. Do not bother about it. Chill.

6. Claim that you will. Have faith in yourself. Never doubt. Grow that feeling that you can hurdle every single questions being asked. You might not provide the right answer, at least, give a reasonable one. The average passing percentage is peg at 20% . Be part of that! You must have that fighting spirit, a burning will, and a willful intent to be a lawyer. Hard work and smart studying will bring you to the halls of the revered Supreme Court for your signing of the roll of attorneys.

7. Pray. Nothing is stronger than the will of our Supreme Judge.

Hope this will help you. Goodluck!